Friends felt dying sweat-lodge man was 'astral travelling'

So-called New Age healer David Jarvis, who led the fatal ceremony.Photo: David Mariuz

AS A Melbourne man lay dying from heat-induced dehydration in a
remote South Australian creek bed during a native American ritual
known as a sweat lodge, his fellow campers believed he was astral
travelling and banged drums to return him to earth.

An inquest on the death of Rowan Cooke, 37, of Glenroy, heard
yesterday that he was camping with 10 others from Victoria on an
isolated property in the Gammon Ranges, in South Australia's far
north, undergoing an eight-day ritual of fasting, meditation and
purification.

On November 3, 2004, he and another man, Adrian Asfar, then 22,
were dragged unconscious from the sauna-like tent after a third
occupant, Maureen Collier, called out in distress.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Amy Davis, told the South
Australian Coroners Court that both men were breathing and were put
in the coma position.

"It was considered by some of the campers that they may have
been astral travelling or in a deep meditative state," Ms Davis
said.

The campers attempted to revive them by banging drums, chanting,
burying their feet in soil and massaging their hands, Ms Davis
said.

The inquest into the disastrous end to the cleansing and
purification ritual will focus on the lapse of six hours or more
before the alarm was raised.

The inquest was told that during the sweat lodge ritual  a
ceremonial sauna used by native Americans  three New Age
devotees, including Mr Cooke, sat in an insulated tent.

Volcanic rocks, called "grandfathers" because they were seen to
carry the knowledge of all time, were heated in a nearby fire and
carried into the tent where water was poured on them to create
steam. Water was thrown onto them, releasing large amounts of
steam.

Ms Davis said there were conflicting views in the group as to
what happened after the rocks were passed into the tent on the
night of November 2.

She said Mr Asfar regained consciousness after 40 minutes but Mr
Cooke did not. However, it was not until daybreak on November 3
that two of the campers drove to the Owieandana homestead on the
Yankaninna Station property to raise the alarm.

Mr Cooke arrived at hospital barely alive and died at
11.32am.

A police report of the scene at the campsite found no alcohol or
drugs. There were numerous articles associated with New Age
practice including candles, drums, crystals, feathers, a telescope
and wooden staffs with crystals attached.

Group leader David Jarvis, 43, a "New Age healer", told police
that Mr Cooke was attempting to assume a higher level of
consciousness by activating a peace pipe.

He said that after the ritual was completed, it was expected Mr
Cooke would "take the activated pipe and step into a new role in
his life". "There are shamanic powers and often they don't come
back into the body for a while," he said.

Mr Jarvis told the court he estimated Mr Cooke was in the tent
for 30 minutes. He said people outside noticed after five or 10
minutes that he had stopped talking, but believed he was
undertaking the ritual in silence.

"Not long after, I noticed a particular energy coming out of the
lodge, it was quite strong in nature," he told police. "I noted two
people were having an out-of-body experience."